I never owned any M.A.S.K figures as a kid. I thought they were cool, it was just Star Wars had totally captured my attention at the time.

So a recent turn of events allowed me to make up for that. The first being the release of the line’s hero, Matt Trakker as a part of the 25th Anniversary GI Joe line. The second being all round cool dude, William B. West finding one for me on clearance. (Go read his blog, for a mega dose of nerd and pop culture. )

Appearance:

MASK figures were a bit smaller than regular GI Joe figures. The idea behind the line was they had vehicles that converted into weapons and other types vehicles. Each of the characters also came with a Mask that would give them some sort of technological power. The good guys were led by Matt Trakker. Matt is also the subject of this review, as an adjunct GI Joe team member.

His over all color scheme and design remind me quite a bit of the vintage “astronaut” version of Ace. White flight suit with red accents layered on with tech stuff.

Much like the the original MASK, the paint is a minimum here. This can best be seen with the boots, which molded in white, look more like sneakers than boots. A little paint on the laces might have helped here.

The legs are pretty plain. They are gathered at the ankle, which give them an almost parachute suit look. The red trimmed knee pads are bout the only thing that really stands out.

The web gear is done pretty well here. The back and crotch strap have a brown leather like appearance. There’s even a silver painted buckle on the back. Kind of cool, since with a pack on you won’t see it. The chest piece is more armor like in appearance.

The “shoulders pads” look a little forward off the shoulders. They also have the appearance of being small control surfaces rather than protective in nature.

Mr. Trakker’s head and face look more superhero than GI Joe. The hair looks thick and wavy, which no Joe would have. The face looks good enough that it doesn’t appear to just be “Generic Dude #1”.

Fun:

Part of the fun of this figure is not only getting a figure of defunct 80’s toyline, but also getting a mini vehicle with a single carded figure. No simple jet pack here, its a helipack!

Molded in a florescent green color that I’m sure Generals Joes loves, the unit fits on him like a standard back pack. It is a bit oversize, and it also has shoulder pieces that kind of tie it in to the shoulder pads.

On one side of the unit, a control arm comes over his shoulder. I actually had flipped this around so it came up from underneath and thought it looked better. However, the card art shows it coming from above.

The attachment on the other side appears to be some sort of small gun. He can’t really reach it so we will assume it is some sort of auto defense system.

The prop is on an arm that tilts to so you can put it straight behind him if you want. The prop itself is very loose on the peg and spins quite freely.

On a side note, according to my research the colors and helicopter are more like the Condor vehicle in the MASK line. The Condor was a motorcycle that turned into a helicopter. It was piloted by a different character, Brad Turner. The style of this pack really evokes that vehicle, though.

In addition to the whirlygig pack, Matt comes with, of course, a Mask. This Mask seems to be similar to the Spectrum Mask that came with the Thunderhawk (flying Camaro) version of Matt Trakker. That’s also where the main inspiration for the look of this figure comes from. (Thanks to “The MASK Page” for having great photos!)

Matt also comes with a weapon. It’s an odd sort of gun. It has a large scope and front handle. It’s really hard to visually to pick up on which end is which on this thing. If it hadn’t been for the trigger guard, I’d probably have got it wrong.

There’s also a stand in that blister marked with Specialist Trakker, which is a neat way to get him to fit into this continuity. Tying him in further, Matt’s file card ties MASK into the GI Joe team as a special unit unto themselves. They also tie the MASK baddies, VENOM, into Cobra. Although, I have to say, who couldn’t see the VENOM thing coming?

Overall:

You know, I really think the design team did a great job here. It’d be easy to take a generic figure, slap a funny helmet on him and call him a Matt Trakker. However, they didn’t go that route.

This is a pretty good homage to the line done as a single carded figure. They did not only a great job capturing the spirit of the line, but I think they did a pretty good job capturing the 80’s design ascetic.

While I wouldn’t want them to go crazy with a fully integrated MASK line as part of GI Joe, I don’t think a figure every now and then would hurt. It would be nice if they would at least give us a figure of Miles Mayhem, the VENOM honcho at some point.

This week, join Ben, John, and Scott for a great new show packed full of toy fun!This week we tackle the second half of our armchair coverage of the 2016 Toy Fair News, and then we run through three great new Toys of the Week;

NECA Aliens Series 3 Dog Alien

Kotobukiya Bishoujo Black Canary

McFarlane Toys Walking Dead Hospital Doors Building Set

If you don’t use iTunes, you can download Episode 209 here now! Click on the link to listen, or right click to save the file! The podcast will always be available from the “Podcast” tab here – but if you can subscribe and give us positive ratings at iTunes, that will help us greatly!

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